Railway-track



(No Model.) v

J. LAWLER.A

RAILWAY TRACK.

Patented Feb. 8, 1887.

NrrnAA vT Afrns JAMES LAVLER, OF PRAIRIE DU CHIEN, iVlSCONSlN.

SPECIFICATION forming part ofLetters Patent No. 3517.396, dated February 8, 1887.

Application'filcd June 14, 15186.v

To all whom, zit may concern:

Be it known that l, JAMES LAWLER, of Prairie du Chien,in the county of Crawford, and in the State of Visconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railwayflracks; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof. v

My invention relates to improvements in railways, and has for its object to automatic ally compensate for the creeping movement of the rails caused by the travel of trains thereon, said invention being particularly applicable to railroad bridges and trestles, as will be hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 representsa plan view of a portion of a trestle-work or bridge,showing the application of my improvements; Fig. 2, a detail view of a stationary and creeping rail; Fig. 3, an under side view of the stationary rail; Fig. 4, an enlarged vertical transverse section on line x a', Fig. l; Fig. 5, a similar view on line c o, Fig. 2;.Fig. 6, a similar view on line y y, Fig. l; Fig. 7, a partial vertical transverse section on line w w, Fig. 1; Fig. 8, a detail View of the splice end of a stationary rail, and Fig. 9a similar view of an adjacent movable rail.

Referring by letter to the drawings, A represents a section of railway-track at the end of a trestle-work or bridge, and B the track on solid bed. Spiked or otherwise firmly secured to the ties, at or near the terminus of the bridge or trestle, are rails C, that have the greater part of their length tapered on the outside to a comparatively fine point, this taper extending from b to c.

The ordinary rails, D, on the bridge or trestle are not spiked down, but are held in place by means of suitable chairs, E, that are preferably secured to the ties by wood-screws d, in order to, as far as possible, prevent the vibration caused by the moving trains from loosening said chairs. A

By the above-described means for securing the rails D the latter are allowed play in a longitudinal direction, for the purpose to be hereinafter specified.

rlhe treads e and base f of the rails C are hollowed out upon theirtapered sides to come Serial No. 205,067, (No model.)

inside of the adjacent rails D, so that there will be no break between these parts C D or variation in the width of track at the point c. At their extreme tapered ends c the rails C are held up in position against the ones D by means of chairs F, spiked or otherwise secured to t-he ties, and the cut-out part of these rails C that comes against the base edges of said rails D is slightly concaved, as illustrated by Fig. 3, to secure a better bearing.

To prevent the vibration caused by moving trains from loosening up therails C, .I may secure the latter for aportion of their length or at intervals by means of wood-screws i, as shown by Fig. 6.

As the trains move in the direction of the arrow, Eig. 1, the rails D along the bridge or trestle are free to creep, `and the ones that are adjacent to the tapered stationary rails C, hav ing their forward ends outside the latter, will be forced along the same in proportion to the amount of creep that comes from the rear, thereby compensating for such movement at this point. By continuous travel the rails D thatare immediately adjacent to the tapered ends of the ones C will be forced their entire length along these latter rails, and thus by degrees the entire track on the bridge or trestle will have crept past said tapered rails.

To compensate for the creep at the rear and to fill the gap that would otherwise be made between the meeting-points of rails, l employ the same construction already described, only that the points c of the tapered rails are reversed. The traction of the' moving trains will draw the rear ones of the rails D forward in the same proportion that the front ones are forced in' a like direction. Thus, when thelatter have crept their entire length, they may be utilized to supply the place of the rear ones that have been drawn clear of the rear tapered rails.

The above description applies to double tracks; butin case of single tracks the rails on the bridge or trestle would creep back and forth in proportion to the travel of trains in either direction, and thevend ones of the rails D would correspondingly move along the tapered rails at the respective ends of the bridge or trestle.v

By the construction above describedI over over upon the corresponding parts g h on the come the difficulties heretofore experienced in It OA compensating for the creeping of railwaytracks, and effect a saving in time and labor necessary thereto, especially on bridges or trestles. The rear ends of the rails G that terminate the track on the bridge or trestle are each cut away on one side and provided with a groove, m, that engages the oli'- set tongue n of the rail immediately in the rear, and the base of said groove is provided With a slot, p, through which is designed to be passed a spike or other suitable fastening means to hold the grooved ends of the rails G to the ties.

By the construction j ust described a longitudinal play is allowed the rails G, and their expansion and contraction is compensated for at their rear ends, while their front ends are always in line with the terminus r of the bridge or trestle. This construction is particularly desirable on draw-bridges, for the reason that the ends ofthe rails G nearest the permanent structure are always in the same place and do not come over said ends to interfere with the proper Working ofthe draw.

`While I have described the above improvements more particularly in connection with bridges or trestlewvorks, they are equally applicable at other points along a track; and though I have shown the rails C as provided with tongues to engage the grooves in the ones G, these tongues may be omitted from the rails C and form part of other rails that may be interposed between them and said railsG, this tongue-and-groove construction being applicable at the heel end of switch-rails to compensate for contraction and expansion ofthe iron.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. A section of railway-track consisting of 4o stationary rails having aportion of their length tapered, and a series of non-tapered loose rails arranged to be automatically and successively moved forward their entire length along said stationary rails in proportion to the creep that comes from the rear, substantially as set forth.

2. A section of railway-track consisting of stationary rails having a portion of theirlength tapered on the outside and their treads and bases hollowed out on said tapered sides, in combination With a series of straight nontapered loose rails that have the inner sides of their treads and bases engaged with the hollowedout corresponding parts ofthe stationary ones, and are arranged to be automatically and successively moved forward their entire length along said stationary rails in proportion to the creep that comes from the rear, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination, with a bridge or trestle- Work, of a railway-track section comprising stationary rails having aportion of their length tapered, a series of longitudinally-movable rails that have their play along said tapered ones, the terminal rails of said track-section provided with grooves at their rear ends,and the intermediate rear rails provided with tongues to engage said grooves, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand, at Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin, in the presence of-two witnesses.

JAMES LAVLER.

Vitnesses:

H. G. UNDERWOOD, N. E. OLIPHANT. 

